The Arrow of Time
by Interstella
Summary: The end of the world has come, and Noel finds himself on another adventure. This time, accompanied by a brilliant young man.   NOT YAOI.  SPOILERS FOR END GAME! -HIATUS


The end of the world has come, and Noel finds himself on another adventure. This time, accompanied by a brilliant young man. Together they search for someone they loved, while slowly forgetting. Will they become swallowed by eternity? Or will they find her before their memories completely fade?

+++ Chapter 1 – Prologue +++

_I don't know where I am. _

…_I can't hear anything…_

…_I can't see anything…_

…_It's cold, and dark... _

…_And I'm all alone… _

_This place is...dead._

_But I don't have any regrets. I fought to the end. I never ran away. _

_I just …hope someone will remember me._

The darkness was absolute. Grey and black mist swarmed, filling the air with its putrid finality. Nothing was left behind – nothing spared the destruction of the end of the world, of the end of all existence. As dark clouds rushed at him as he folded himself over her limp figure, futilely offering his own body as protection for her still frame. "I'm …sorry." The whispered words left his lips as his eyes closed. A single tear fell from his eyes, while the world ended, her still warm body once again gathered in his arms.

Behind him, Hope carried the departed moogle, holding him to his chest perhaps in seeking some sort of comfort in his final moments, or maybe he was just saying good-bye to the unfortunate creature.

And then that was it. The moment that the cold emptiness of the clouds touched him, Noel knew – just knew – that there was nothing left, that the world, and everything in it, had ended. Exhaling his last breath, he relaxed, accepting the fate he could do nothing about.

"Noel!"

The voice was at a distance, somewhat familiar. But who was it?

"Noel!"

There. It came again. Closer this time. What was it?

"Noel!"

After a third time, he began to wonder, _'why isn't this 'Noel' answering?'_ Then a hand on his shoulder startled him into opening his eyes and sitting up suddenly enough to cause his head to spin then ache.

"Noel…"

Placing his throbbing head in his hand, he finally looked up. There was a young man there. Concerned grey eyes peered at him, and abruptly he remembered who he was.

"Hope?" He asked, slowly removing the hand from his head, revealing a quizzical expression behind those cool blue eyes. "What-?"

Lifting his head, he looked around. There was nothing there, just black. Looking down, he could barley discern that the surface that he was sat upon was sand or crystal shards. Scooping some in his hand, he lifted it and slowly dropped it before him, squinting to make out the grains before they drifted lightly in weak, hardily noticeable breeze as he listened to Hope.

"I don't know." The young man replied, standing up straight and looking around. "I can't see anything. It's almost like there's nothing else here…"

Noels hand once more dove into the sand below him, repeating the idle motion, ready to scoop up another handful of sand to simply let it drift away when he felt something hard. Frowning, he leaned forward, squinting in the darkness and picked the mysterious solid object. It was a small pink crystal, about the same size as Noel's palm. It glowed lightly in the darkness, its pale light almost surreal. The shape was familiar too, round at the top, encircled and held on to a short pole by another shard of crystal. It took but a moment for Noel to recognize it. "Hope…" He spoke slowly, his eyes never leaving the jewel in front of him as he barley dared to breathe. "This… this was Serahs'…" He struggled for words as he held the gem up showing it to his companion, all the while watching the glow. "Wasn't it? She wore it around her neck…"

"It turned to crystal." The white-haired man took the fragment from Noel, taking a closer look. Holding it gently in his hand he regarded it with a slightly perplexed expression. The pink reflected off his face, causing his eyes to glow. "Her necklace…" Closing his fist in his hand he paused for a moment before handing it back to his friend.

"What do you think this means?" Noel asked.

"I think… it means a part of her is still with us." Their eyes met, and Hope gave a soft smile. "And it always will. I think we should walk…"He said, still looking out into the non-existent distance. "It's better than just standing here…" Turning back to the other man, he offered his hand to help Noel to his feet.

Nodding in agreement, Noel held the shard before him, as if to light his path. "How about this way?" He asked, gesturing forwards in a seemingly random direction.

With a nod, and a sound of approval, Hope took the first step, and so, they began their new journey.

The world faded around them as the pair concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other then repeating the motion, over and over, covering miles with no change to their darkened scenery. Sometimes, one would stumble, and the other would pick him up again. Leaning upon one another they made their way forwards in a never ending motion. One step, then another and together, they continued their journey in silence.

Eventually, it came to the point where they just couldn't carry on any more. Noel dropped, landing heavily on his knees, his chin dropping as his exhaustion became overwhelming. Hope stopped beside him and also dropped to the ground. "There's… Nothing here…" Hope mumbled, his voice echoing the despair flowing in Noels heart. The pair sat there for a while, once again in with no sound but the pumping of their blood through their veins and the haunted gusts of their breath.

Even in his home, where there were but a handful of humans left in existence – even at the end, after Yuel… Noel had never felt so alone. The darkness that surrounded them was only pierced by the soft glow of the crystal which he now wore loosely around his neck.

It felt hopeless.

Lifting his head up towards the darkened non-existent sky, Noel closed his eyes, ready to finally give up.

"_Don't worry."_

A soft voice, echoed in his head. It was her. Her voice that pierced his darkness, a memory of his fallen friend - the last girl he failed to protect.

"_You're not alone."_

Slowly, he opened his eyes. It had felt almost… almost as if she was there, pushing him on. "Hope." He said, still not moving. "We have to carry on." For a moment it seemed like he was ignoring his own words until slowly, he got to his feet, turning to give his companion a hand. "For her. We have to keep going. For her." Helping the man to his feet, he gently pulled on his hand before letting go, ensuring that the two of them began to move forward once more.

So they walked again. The darkness never receding - the loneliness never fading.

"_Look."_ Her voice echoed in his mind then, and he paused, squinting a little in the darkness. "Hope…" He said, reluctant excitement beginning to rise up. "I see something! I see some light!" And that was all he needed to gain momentum. Each step came faster than the last until they were running, sprinting towards the glistening light ahead.

It came closer and closer, and Noel realized that they were on a beach. A very familiar beach. "Hope, we're in Valhalla!" He exclaimed, slowing his pace a little to look around.

Hope caught up to him and together, they surveyed their surroundings.

They were indeed in the city of Valhalla, outside of time and existence. The sole force of light was emanating from a single source, far above them. "I think… That's Etro's throne…"

Barely looking at each other, the two agreed upon their new destination – the Throne of Etro. Nothing could deter them, or slow them down as they climbed the city, weaving their way between the buildings, never losing sight of the penetrating light.

The crystal on Noels' chest began to grow warm as they moved closer to the prevailing light.

"Noel, look…" Hope spoke for the first time in a long time, pointing his hand towards the throne. They were finally there.

Their pace slowed as they walked up the final steps. "Is that…" as they grew closer, they could see that something was upon the crystal chair -or rather, someone. "She's been turned to crystal..." Hope spoke quietly as he reached the pillar. His hand reacheing out, as if to touch the floating statue, but he stopped short, pausing momentarily before retracting and hanging loosely by his side.

"…Lightning…"

"She turned to crystal?" Noel took a hesitant step, looking at the woman that had constantly saved them. "How…?"

"She said you'd come!" A voice came from behind them, startling both men.

Noel didn't recognize the young woman. She wore her pink hair in pigtails, the length of it rested against the top of her shoulders and fraimed her face. Bright eyes looked up at them as she smiled softly at them.

A strangled sound came from Hope, causing Noel to look at the older man. A look of complete shock and bewilderment was plastered on his face. "V-" It seemed that he was unable to finish the word.

"Hope. You're all grown up!" The woman took a few bouncing steps forward towards them. Stopping in front of the other, she looked at him before cocking her head to the side. "It's good to see you again." Then she moved to look at Noel. "Hello. You must be Noel." Reaching her hand forwards, she took Noels hand in both of hers and shook it once. "I'm Vanille."

This seemed to break the spell on Hope. The moment Vanilles' hands let go of Noels', they were scooped up by Hope as he pulled the young woman to his chest, holding her close as if afraid that she would change her mind and disappear again.

With one hand still holding hers, Hope pulled his other around her back as his forehead rested against her shoulder. "Vanille." He said finally. "You're okay…"

Gently pulling her hands free, Vanille reached up and returned the hug. "Nhn." She nodded once before gently stepping back, her hands on Hope's shoulders. "I'm okay." Smiling softly, she took one more step backwards, letting Hope go completely.

"You said 'She said you'd come'?" Noel asked, politely ignoring Hope as he regained his composure.

"Yeah. Lightning said that you would come." Vanille looked at the crystiline figure of her friend. "It was her idea… Becoming crystal. That way, she was still able to bring us here. She told me that you were going to find the key."

"The key?" Noel asked, only to receive a blatent 'I don't know' look from Vanille as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fang?" Hope still sounded like he had something stuck in his throat and was unable to make a full sentence.

Vanille simply shook her head, a saddened look on her face. "I don't know. One minute, I was dreaming, the next I woke up here. I think – I think I saw Sazh before I woke up here… Then it was just me and Lightning. We saw it all… from here. Serah…" Her voice drifted off as a saddned look overcame her features. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, as if to clear it then nodded once. "Lightning said that you'd find the key." The young woman looked passed both Hope and Noel to stare at their crystiline friend.

"What does that mean?" Hope started to sound more like himself as he turned to also look at the young woman.

"I don't know." Vanille said quietly before walking forward. "But she did show me where to go." As she was walking, she turned on her heals. Walking backwards now, she smiled at the two and gestured with her head that they should follow. "C'mon."

They followed her around the throne to a flight of stairs. At the bottom there was a source of light. As they got closer, the shape became clearer and Noel frowned. Mostly round, the light source hovered slightly above the ground, emanating a silver-gold glow. "Is that a gate?" He asked, a little disbelief echoing in his voice.

Vanille nodded. "Time travels ever expanding. So when the death of the goddess caused the timeline to contract – to collapse in on itself, pockets of time escaped. Lightning said that she managed to lock those times up, protecting them from Chaos temporarily. She told me that there is a key to reuniting the times – to fixing the paradox that is tangling time."

"So do you have any idea what this key looks like?" Hope asked, turning his head to look at the others as they stopped in front of the gate.

Vanille simply shrugged and shook her head. "I didn't get enough time to ask."

"I guess we just have to figure it out as we go along then." Noel said as he stepped forward into the gate.

++++ -Chapter 1 End ++++

_Okay so I'm hoping to write this in the style of an actual game, like these are the cut scenes between play. Please let me know if it flows like that? And if it still seems like a story in itself. _

_I also don't have a beta, so I would appreciate any feedback you have on this –spelling grammar etc. And if someone wants to volunteer to be my beta, just remember that my writing is erratic. I will write four chapters in a few hours, then nothing for months. And with a beta, I will need someone who is willing to stick through the whole thing. In return, I offer a share in the creativity – if my beta suggests something, I will give it serious consideration. _

_So anyway, as per usual, helpful reviews are appreciated and encouraging ones are thanked. _


End file.
